In this article, we analyze how linguistic terms have been borrowed and reinterpreted across disciplines. Specifically, we describe how terminology associated with Applied Linguistics (AL) changed meaning as it entered the new disciplinary context of Writing Studies (WS), often resulting in confusion and turbulence between the two fields. As in…

Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST), an instantiation in applied linguistics of complexity epistemology that transcends disciplinary boundaries, has gained much traction and momentum over the last decade, finding expressions in a fast-growing number of empirical second language developmental studies. However, the literature, while rapidly…

This article positions braille as a writing system worthy of study in its own right and on its own terms. We begin with a discussion of the role of braille in the lives of those who read and write it and a call for more attention to braille in the reading sciences. We then give an overview of the history and development of braille, focusing on its…

Two issues pertaining to the use of metonymy that plays a central role in Slabakova et al. (2016) are mentioned in the very title of their study--novel metonymy and regular metonymy. In this article I draw attention to some problems with the identification of these as well as with the assumption that these are opposites of each other.

This study aims to investigate Vietnamese pain terms and pain descriptors with a focus on how the McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) words are utilised by the Vietnamese patients. Semi-structured interviews were employed to collect data from twenty-six Vietnamese female cancer patients. The data were analysed using both quantitative and qualitative…

The present study used quantitative and qualitative measures to examine Iranian applied linguists' (mis-) conceptions of ethical issues in research. For this purpose, one hundred and twelve applied linguists completed a research ethics questionnaire constructed and validated by the researchers. In the follow-up qualitative phase, 15 applied…

Identifying changing patterns of stability and variability is crucial when examining second language development (SLD) from a complex dynamic systems theory (CDST) perspective (Larsen-Freeman, 2020). By studying attractor states, or recurrent patterns of stability, light can be shed on the underlying dynamics of a complex dynamic system (van Geert…

The growing concern for ethics in applied linguistics may be attributed to attempts to stem the rising incidence of ethical lapses in order to ensure that the core ethical principles of: (1) respect for persons; (2) yielding optimal benefits while minimizing harm; and (3) justice are preserved. Following a brief historical review of this topic,…

Linguistic ethnographers largely agree that engaging in self-reflexivity enables researchers to identify how their actions, subjectivities, and motivations influence research. In this article, I argue for a discourse-oriented ethnographic account as an alternative method for documenting and reporting such reflexivity. The overall goal of this…

English learners' (ELs') opportunity gap in U.S. K-12 schools is well known. While many of us in the field of applied linguistics are committed to achieving greater parity for ELs, the field as a whole has a propensity to approach this opportunity gap by addressing ELs' linguistic needs. This response, however, is siloed in nature, resulting in…

When 'decoloniality' and 'decolonizing' have become words frequently used in conferences and journal publications in our field of Applied Linguistics/Language and Education, as well as on many academics' lips, we start to worry about how they too can be easily co-opted as buzz words emptied of their critical meaning and actional potential and…

Classroom research has long been recommended as a fruitful avenue for English language teaching (ELT) in applied linguistics. Yet recognition of the value of practitioners exploring their own praxis has only recently come to the fore. In this plenary, I focus on Exploratory Practice, a form of 'fully inclusive practitioner research', in which…

How we talk about bilingualism has an effect on how others think about bilingual individuals, and in turn, how "active bilingual learners/users of English" (ABLE) students are assessed and taught in schools. I use a transdisciplinary approach of bridging social semiotics, applied linguistics, psycholinguistics, and cognitive linguistics…

Employing the concept of practice-based research (Sato and Loewen 2022), this study argues for the creation of applied linguistics communities of practice (CoPs) as a capacitating space for researchers and practitioners, mutual exchange, and meaningful collaboration. This is needed given the existing gap between research and practice, which is…

This article investigates the roles of language teachers in a language and integration programme in Denmark. The results show that the teachers' work goes beyond the role of language teacher per se. The teachers are shown to take on the role of integration workers, who, as part of the integration system, contri­bute to socializing the students…